UN panel slams US for police brutality, torture

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RT 2014-11-29A UN report has condemned the United States for violating the terms
of an international anti-torture treaty. The panel took Washington to
task for police brutality, military interrogations, and capital
punishment protocols.

Released by the UN Committee Against Torture, the report took
issue with the excessive use of force by law enforcement and
accused the US police force of racial profiling.

The report was
released on Friday, just days after the contentious decision of a
Missouri grand jury not to indict a white officer accused of
shooting Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen. The decision
triggered a wave of protests nationwide.

The UN watchdog expressed “deep concern at the frequent and
recurrent police shootings or fatal pursuits of unarmed black
individuals.”

Though the report did not specifically mention
the events in Ferguson, Mike Brown’s parents met with the
committee to discuss their son’s case in Geneva earlier this
month.
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--"Terroristerna hatar oss för vår frihet: G W Bush."--

- The 10-person panel, which periodically reviews the records of
the 156 countries which ratified the Convention Against Torture –
a non-binding international human rights treaty – cited mounting
concerns over “racial profiling by police and immigration
offices and growing militarization of policing activities.”

“We recommend that all instances of police brutality and
excessive use of force by law enforcement officers are
investigated promptly, effectively and impartially by an
independent mechanism,” said panel member Alessio Bruni at a
news conference in Geneva.
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US activists welcomed the findings as a call to action for the
federal government.

“This report - along with the voices of Americans protesting
around the country this week - is a wake-up call for police who
think they can act with impunity,” said Jamil Dakwar of the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), as quoted by Reuters.

Urging for tougher laws to define and ban torture, the committee called on Washington to
reevaluate the treatment of detainees at the infamous Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which
currently houses 148 prisoners.

The report accused the US of
sustaining a “draconian system of secrecy surrounding
high-value detainees that keeps their torture claims out of the
public domain.”